Max pain // Cboe delayed data · as of Oct 26, 7:01 PM ET

SMMT max pain

Spot (delayed)$14.61
Max pain · Fri, Mar 19$15+2.7% vs spot
Expected move (ATM straddle)±$7.8±53.4% by Fri, Mar 19
Put/Call OI0.29702 puts / 2K calls
Call wall$15largest call OI
Put wall$16largest put OI
IV30117.9%30-day implied vol
Net GEX+$14Kper 1% move · flip ≈ $7

Event risk before this expiration: FOMC decision Wed, Oct 28 · Jobs report Fri, Nov 6 · CPI release Tue, Nov 10 · Jobs report Fri, Dec 4 · FOMC decision Wed, Dec 9 · CPI release Thu, Dec 10 — macro releases historically overwhelm pinning effects; max pain reads weakest in event weeks.

Max pain levels

ExpiryMax painvs spotDTE
Fri, Oct 30$16+9.6%4d
Fri, Nov 6$17+16.4%11d
Fri, Nov 13$15+2.7%18d
Fri, Nov 20$16+9.6%25d
Fri, Nov 27$15.5+6.1%32d
Fri, Dec 4$14-4.1%39d
Fri, Dec 18$15+2.7%53d
Fri, Jan 15$15+2.7%81d
Fri, Mar 19$15+2.7%144d
Fri, Apr 16$13-11.0%172d

The writer-loss curve — where max pain comes from

spot151815212835$4M$0
■ put-side pain■ call-side painTotal payout option writers would owe at each settle price (both sides, all open interest, ×100 shares) — low settles hurt put writers, high settles hurt call writers. The minimum — 15 — is the max pain price.

Open interest by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot151101520261K1K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)SMMT open contracts per strike for Fri, Mar 19.

Open-interest change: building vs unwinding

Needs two observed snapshot days for this expiration; the comparison appears automatically once the next weekday snapshot lands. We diff real observations only; nothing is estimated.

Volume by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot151101520266767
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Today's traded contracts per strike (delayed).

Implied volatility by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spot51117232935146%94%
— call IV— put IVATM ≈ 106.3% · Quoted strikes only; illiquid wings with junk fits are dropped, not smoothed.

Gamma exposure by strike · Fri, Mar 19

spotflip 7110152026+$9K−$9K
Net dealer gamma per strike, in dollars per 1% move, assuming the standard convention (dealers long calls, short puts) — an assumption, not an observation. Above the amber flip level hedging tends to dampen moves; below it, to amplify them.

Greeks by strike · Fri, Mar 19

Call ΔCall ΘStrikeΓVegaPut ΘPut Δ
0.91-0.0180.01690.02-0.01-0.12
0.88-0.0190.02060.02-0.01-0.15
0.84-0.01100.02440.02-0.01-0.18
0.81-0.01110.02810.03-0.01-0.21
0.77-0.01120.03160.03-0.01-0.25
0.73-0.01130.03460.03-0.01-0.29
0.69-0.01140.03710.03-0.01-0.33
0.65-0.01150.03910.04-0.01-0.38
0.61-0.01160.04060.04-0.01-0.41
0.58-0.01170.04150.04-0.01-0.45
0.54-0.01180.04200.04-0.01-0.49
0.51-0.01190.04200.04-0.01-0.52
0.48-0.01200.04180.04-0.01-0.56
0.45-0.01210.04140.04-0.01-0.59
0.42-0.01220.04070.04-0.01-0.61

Quoted contract greeks from the delayed feed (not modeled here); the highlighted row is nearest to spot. Showing 15 strikes around the money — all 25 are in the CSV. Δ per $1 of underlying · Θ per day · vega per IV point.

Stacked — layer the expirations

spot51416.51922262K0
Call open interest per strike, stacked across the checked expirations — each color is one expiry. Strikes are pruned to the liquid center of each chain.

All expirations combined — total open interest

spot110.51621.5273430K30K
■ calls (up)■ puts (down)Every expiration combined: 140K call contracts, 89K put contracts open.

Reading this honestly

Max pain is arithmetic, not prophecy: the settle price that would minimize what option writers pay out at expiration, computed from open interest alone. Prices sometimes gravitate toward heavy strikes into expiry — dealer hedging is a real flow — but the evidence that max pain predicts settlement better than chance is mixed, and we are not going to pretend otherwise. Use it as a map of where positioning is stacked, next to the fundamentals and the earnings calendar, not as a target.

Data: Cboe delayed public feed (~15 minutes), refreshed here about every 15 minutes. Open interest itself updates once daily, before the open. Educational information, not investment advice.

Keep going: SMMT workspace · max pain, explained in full · options profit calculator · iron condor and credit spread calculator · GEX, defined · pin risk